Since I got the blue ox, I have ammased a large collection of rather big boney pine logs. Some hollow or rotted inside, some solid in sizes from 24 to 40 inches. Too many knots to make much usable 1 or 2 by out of. Then yesterday it hit me...... 3 inch bar tops and.......garden benches. I cut two of the largest hollow logs, getting some 2 by and 3by 17 20,20, 25 and 27. Then I took a real lumpy boney broken/cracket from felling 10 footer and pared it down to 15 by 15. Chainsawed it into cubes. Two cubes and one 3 incher voila! garden bench.
Drove them over to the closest garden center and he bought all 5 and asked for a bunch more. What a great country! :D :D :D
Amen Brother 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)
I have a couple of similar pieces and a friend called them flintstone furniture. The name has stuck and people really seem to like the heft! ;D
I also saw something similar in a toney hotel in down town Vancouver, British Columbia...polished up nice but still just a checked chunk of firewood :D :D :D
These items are quite nice especially when they make us some income!!! :)
Kendall
Don't mind if i ask, but how much time invested and how much did they go for? I'm always looking for things to do like that.
Thanks
kelvin
well, had two suitable logs lined up at mill to be cut next. Stopped at the garden place at 1:00 wed to talk about possibilities. Came home and rolled the first bone onto mill, 11 foot long 26 inch small end with numerous huge knots. The owner of the garden place also spoke about a 10 foot walking bridge, so I thought this log would be perfect for some wide 4" planks for the bridge, untill I saw the huge crack that had formed when the tree hit the ground. Spent the next few minutes paring it down to 15 by 15 for the bench supports, at least the parts that werent cracked.
Then rolled a huge fairly nice looking 8 footer onto mill, maybe 35" but hollow with rot showing at the butt but not at the top. Had to use the chain saw to get through the first 3 passes, slow work. BTW used my metavic loader to handle all the pieces and the large piece of rott that was left.
Started tractor and put the now full load of slab and rot on the burn pile. Then picked up all the cut 3 by and the chainsawed cubes, then put them into the back of the dump truck. Was inside before 3:30.
Spent about an hour delivering the pieces thurs morning. So, no more than 3.5 hours total including everything but placing the logs at the mill for a whoping $154, and a second order. Also would have been much more profitable if the first bone wasnt cracked nearly clean through.
Good job, Millsy! 8) Now won't it be interesting when you send somebody by to find out how much he's getting for them? You might find that you're due to get a bigger slice of the pie. ;D
Actullay I hope he makes a bundle and buys way more. i can't market this kind of stuff from my yard, no traffic you know.
worked from 9:30 to 3 today cut 2 junky 7 foot six six foot 8 logs into 18 inch slices with the second one left at 14 by 14 for the blocks. Then put a wicked bad pair of pants up on the mill (needed lotsa extra help thank god it is there} and cut it into his bridge.
So $349 today and it was easy.......except for gettin the pair of pants to stand up the right way. Haada use a chain hooked way low and pull up, then squeeze then pull up release and squeeze.
Remined of what the farmer said years ago.............. :D ifin it was easy every one would be doin it. 8) >:( ;D :D :P ::)
here are two shots of the next 2 benches I made. Going to donate one to the local chamber of commerce for their charity auction+ new customers I hope :D
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10064/bench1.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10064/bench2.jpg)
That's what I was picturing in my head, but glad you shared some pics :) Do you fasten the seat on there somehow? Seems it would be too heavy to move if you did. That's a great idea for some of those gnarly knotty spruce I always seem to have too many of ;)
so was that $154 for two benches or 5 benches???
average $35-40 per bench to the garden place. I don't know yet what he will charge but my hunch is around $100. At my short price I am getting 50 cents per bd ft, mind you for logs that have no business on the mill in the first place.
The benches seem pretty stable with out and fasteners. I want to try to make some supports that are sort of half round next.
The only thing that worries me about using spruce to make benches like that would be sap. Last year I had a really gnarly log I didn't want to mill (probably20-24inches on the small end, 12' long), so I just chunked it up into billets and placed them around the fire pit. They weren't bad at first, which is why I used them in the first place, but once the fire got nice and hot they would bleed sap. After a few guests' pants got sapped I tossed them into the fire pit.
A few logs that I have are getting old, and all of the bark fell off of them. Those would look really nice as bottom supports...I like the look of barkless, knotty logs :)
you are right about the sap tho these are pine. The garden center has the stuff on stickers in a green house.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10186/DSC00507f%7E0.JPG)
Slabs make benches too!
WOW and DOUBLE WOW! Arky, that's a nice looking bench.
Bruce
Makes me want to sit down!
Gave one away at the Piggy Roast a few years back and just about started a fight. Could have sold the thing 5 times on the way up. Had a spalted sickymore for this last year but did not get to make the trip. Maybe next year.
Here is some cedar fences that I make sitting on a cedar bench.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10186/DSC01606F.JPG)
Arky are you using a tenon cutter for the legs, then crisscrossing them and using a screw at the crisscross for added strength?
Cute fences. I bet the ladies buy them for flower beds deco etc? Or do you get orders for fences themselves in those short sections?
1 1/2 tenon cutter and I make the tenons then cut a slit in the end and put in a small wedge like a hammer handle. Put a little gorillia glue on and drive them in place. They do not come out and I have not had a customer return a bench with a broken leg yet. I make several dozens a year of them.
Little fences go well and in the spring time I have a hard time keeping them in stock. I have a jig and shoot galvanized staples in them. They are made from junk cedar and left overs or small trimmings. Some times in the spring time I have to saw lumber for them to keep up with orders. They are one foot high and 2 feet long and are made from 1/2 x 2 1/2 x 8' board which will make one fence. Get $4 coins for them. I make cedar into products for a fence company up in Springfield and they buy about 6 mbdft a month to build fences.
I bet you could make little fences from the pine and paint it white and sell them!
Isn't this fun.
Lots. 8)
Arky, I like doing the benches too, and when I get some time, I'm going to make a bunch of them. They actually bring in some good $$. I usuallly use a 2 3/4" tenon on the bigger legs like this one, then I run a diagonal peg through the tennon into the mortise . This stops any twisting that may occur.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/12998/bench2.jpg)
And awhile back I made a joke about this being a rustic chair ;D
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/12998/very%20rustic%20chair%21%21.jpg)
well last weekend, my wife had some business to take care of across the river so the kids and I taged along. Then I went to see this guy who makes stuff similar to what I do. He has a retail shop that his wife runs, and they do quite well. I saw a stool similar to the one I posted ???... Yes a 14" round about 16" tall sitting in his store with a $119 price tag. ::) ??? :D. His wife said the first weekend they put them in there they sold 4 of them. 8)
I like Rustic also.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10330/FDHsolidchair.jpg)
Sorry FDH but the over all finish on that seat is to smooh to be called rustic. You will have to start another thread. Why if grits were slopped on that seat they would just slip off unto the floor and be wasted. What a shame! Nice seat though.
No idea what the finish is. The chair was in a Sawmill Office I found, out on the Puntarenas Peninsula. Nice chainsaw work, EH ???
ARKANSAWYER that's a great looking bench and the little fence idea is a winner.
solodan your bench is a wonderful piece of work.
FDH your chair is a chainsaw masterpiece!
This is a little more rustic than the other benches shown here. It only took about twenty minutes to make out of cottonwood slabs. I used a chainsaw, hammer, and a few nails. I built it to take to a party a friend was putting on. I really expected it would end up on the bonfire before the night was over. People went nuts over it, go figure, I had requests to make a dozen of them.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/14115/CottonwoodBench.jpg)
In case anyone is interested it's two chainsaws long and one bar length tall, cut to fit at assembly.
If I can get $50 :o for them I just might see how many I can sell. For that price, deck screws and some finish on the seat seems reasonable.
My saw has a 72" bar.
Wanna give us an idea what size saw and bar ya used?
The chainsaw I used is a Stihl 260 with an eighteen inch bar ;D
Thanks!
I was wondering the same thing as Furby, cause I used two different saws today, one had a 42" bar and the other had a 12" bar. ??? I'm glad we got that all cleared up, now Furby won't have to make a 12 foot bench , that's 6 feet tall. ;) That is a great idea for a bench JCam, I think that is a great example of utilizing the log to it's fullest. :)
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I love these furniture threads.. ;D
The guy that helped me do my front roof stopped today to see if I had any roof/leak issues. Got out of truck took one look at the benches and said how much. I said $50, he said sold, my wife is gonna love it, did you know the granite ones are almost $1000. :o :o
We have sold 5 or 6 pickup loads of cedar sawdust for people to mulch flower beds. The first person to buy any had just spent $1800.00 on roses and said that cedar sawdust would keep aphids away as well as other bugs that bug roses. I guess after spending that much I would want to protect my investment too. A pet store buys the chips from when we plane cedar boards for bedding for ... rodents. ::)at least thats what I call them. But if cash is in hand dont argue. :D We are starting to compost cottonwood sawdust to sell to the flower people too. Should have plenty by spring. Maybe not what you other guys are doing but every bit helps the bottom line in a small operation.
and what about the sawdust boiler in the new woodmizer way.
well so far every one who has visited us for the last 2 weeks has had the same reaction to the garden benches.
Wow did you make that?
yes
is it for sale?
yes
How much?
$35 or $45 or $60 (depends on who it is)
my wife is gonna love it. :D :D :D
I guess I better make some more :D ;D :o 8) :-*